Tuscaloosa native presented Bronze Star

Staff Sgt. Robert Brenizer, a Tuscaloosa native, has received the Bronze Star with valor device for his service on a combat mission in Afghanistan — the fourth-highest combat medal given in the Army.

By Lydia Seabol AvantStaff Writer

Staff Sgt. Robert Brenizer, a Tuscaloosa native, has received the Bronze Star with valor device for his service on a combat mission in Afghanistan — the fourth-highest combat medal given in the Army. But for Brenizer, the medal isn’t just for his efforts. Instead, the honor belongs to the men in his platoon who fought by his side, he said. “I’m extremely honored, obviously, but at the same time, I’m very humbled,” Brenizer said Wednesday. When he was awarded the medal on Jan. 11, he called out the names of the men who served with him, and said it was as much their award as it was his. “I’ll automatically think about the guys who were with me. It’s a team thing,” Brenizer said. “Sometimes people get recognized for things, but it was a team effort.”Brenizer has served in Afghanistan and Iraq on multiple tours. He was decorated for his actions in the spring of 2011 while serving with the 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, also known as the “Straight and Stalwart Battalion.”On May 9, two platoons were coming back from a joint operation with the Afghan national army in the village of Skeykan Wassad when it was attacked with grenades launched by enemy forces. Brenizer’s platoon was hit, injuring three, including the company commander. “There was machine gun fire and AK-47 fire, and grenade launchers,” Brenizer said. “Our company commander immediately went down, and because of the extent of his injuries, he had to be urgently removed out of there.”Brenizer took a squad to begin to clear the way so that the injured could be evacuated by stretcher on foot.“We basically cleared the route for any enemy or IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that would be detrimental to the evacuation,” Brenizer said. Moving the injured about 1,500 yards through hostile terrain and thick, muddy alleys was physically and mentally exhausting, but they were able to get the injured back to the combat outpost safely, he said.Still, the second platoon was out there, working to disarm an IED that was found, Brenizer said. He and a team of four other soldiers went to assist the other platoon and make sure they were able to get back, he said. It’s at that point that they observed eight to 10 enemy soldiers who were going to attack the other platoon. Brenizer and the four soldiers launched a surprise attack on them, pulling attention away from the other platoon. But a machine gun malfunctioned. Brenizer snapped into action, running about 50 yards through open terrain, under enemy fire, to clear the weapon and shoot the enemy himself. “He knew what he had to do,” said Brenizer’s platoon leader, 1st Lt. Stephen Connell. A 2003 graduate of Tuscaloosa Academy, Brenizer said that he knew he wanted to enlist after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “In high school, when 9/11 happened, I decided to join as soon as I was 18,” Brenizer said. Brenizer, who has served in the military for almost 10 years, served 11 months last year in Afghanistan. He now serves as a scout reconnaissance squad leader and is based at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.